Year 11 Exam Block – 13-15 May

Year 11 students will participate in an exam block from Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 May. The Exam Timetable for this exam block is attached. Students participating in this exam block will undergo Unit 1 assessment. Students need only attend school for the exams that they are sitting in this period.

During the exam block, students not involved in exams are expected to be involved in home study. Students who are behind in their schoolwork may also be required to attend school to complete outstanding work. If this is required, these arrangements will be communicated by individual class teachers.

Please remember that normal school rules regarding uniform and behaviour continue through the exam block. These expectations are outlined in the attached documents.

We wish our students all the best with their studies.

Parental Consents

As part of Catholic Education – Diocese of Rockhampton (CEDR), Shalom College has as its highest priority the safety and well-being of our students. One of our key processes for upholding student protection is seeking up-to-date parental consents to inform how we share student images and information in accordance with parent directives. Shalom College is subject to Australian Privacy Principles and as per compliance and best practice guidelines we have introduced an online consent system accessible through Parent Lounge to enable parents to update their consent.

You may recall receiving a phone call last year or an email previously requesting you to update these consents from our office staff who assisted you to complete this request.  Thank you to everyone who has updated these consents to ensure Shalom is compliant.

There are five (5) areas of consents.  We are requesting for a school our size that parents/guardians select “Y” (yes) to ALL 5 fields.

At number 5 ‘Disclosing data with ACARA’. CEDR encourages parents/guardians to provide your information, the exclusion of data could result in reduced funding for the Catholic school your child/children attend.

Where a large proportion of unknown or non-stated student background data is reported, the Socio-Educational Advantage (SEA) quartile calculation for your child’s school is impacted and could result in reduced school funding. It is very important that every parent/carer now reviews and updates their instructions in this regard to ensure our school receives the funding to which it is entitled.

The information that is provided to ACARA is:

• anonymous
• used to inform national reports consisting of aggregated data on school performance, to assist government formulate policies in relation to education matters and
• used to calculate loadings, a critical component of school funding, necessary to support student needs.

To ensure your consents have been updated please access the online Parental Consent via Parent Lounge. If you have not done so previously a how-to guide is attached to this email to assist you. If your need further assistance, please contact the office on 4155 8111.

We are asking you to update these consents by 30 April 2024. Thank you for partnering with us to further enhance our student protection processes.

SIA – LOG ON NOW! GET THE PHONE APP!

‘Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.’ -Warren Buffet

A parent’s role in the education of their child is vital. Student outcomes will be maximised when parents and teachers are both involved in their child’s education and have positive interactions. Sia is a fantastic way for parents to be fully informed about student progress, assessment due dates, news items, upcoming events, assessment results etc.

Sia, and the Shalom phone app, have been available to parents since the beginning of 2022. Currently, our parent login rate is slightly lower than the end of last year. We would like all our parents to be successfully logged into Sia as soon as possible. Attached in the link below is a Parent “Everything You Need To Know About Sia’ Guide which includes how to log in for the first time. The phone app is super-convenient – a must-have for parents!

Our IT team will have sent the login details for Sia to all new parents to the school at the beginning of the year. If you have misplaced these details, or are having technical difficulties, please contact our Shalom IT department via email at shalomit@shalomcollege.com or phone 41558131 during office hours 8am - 3.30pm Monday to Friday, Tuesdays are 8.30am - 3.30 pm.

Mr Brendan Maher
Assistant Principal - Administration
maherb@shalomcollege.com